Remote analogical reminding

All experiments supported the hypothesis that human memory is sensitive to remote analogical similarity and the implications for memory models require the development of formal models that quantify factors relevant to reminding performance.

Abstract

Remote analogical reminding is hypothesized to occur when one episode is cued by another sharing similar themes but not similar object, character, or event descriptions. We report three experiments exploring this view. Subjects' remindings in Experiment 1 showed sensitivity to remote analogical similarity even though targets were encoded only briefly in an incidental learning paradigm. Experiment 2 subjects showed reliable remindings of remote analogs with study-test delays of up to 1 week. Experiment 3 demonstrated that remote analogical reminding effects are not an artifact of subjects' editing nonanalogical remindings. All experiments supported the hypothesis that human memory is sensitive to remote analogical similarity. We discuss the implications of these findings for memory models. Future progress requires the development of formal models that quantify factors relevant to reminding performance, such as reminding interference, transfer-appropriate processing, and domain expertise.